


Darling

by MrProphet



Category: Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	Darling

I put my hat over the chimney so that the smoke flowed back down and out of the fireplace. I probably could have just knocked on the door, having already climbed up into the tree, but I wanted him to know that I meant business.

They flew out together, he in green, she in white. They looked around for several moments before their smoke-blurred eyes finally found me on the roof.

“Hello,” he said. “Who are you?”

“You never remember, do you Peter?” I sighed.

“Grandmamma Wendy!” Margaret gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to take you home,” I said. “I’ve come to make an end of this… farce.”

“Grandmamma, this is my adventure! It’s my turn!”

“Right!” Peter declaimed. “Go away old woman and leave my mother alone.”

“Do you hear that, Margaret?” I asked. “It’s been five years since he first came for you instead of your mother and I don’t think you want to be his mother anymore. Do you?”

“I…”

Peter stood in the air with his hands on his hips, his chest thrust out and his head back. “Of course she does! Every girl wants to be my mother!”

I remembered why I had loved him so much, and why I hated him so much now. “Margaret?”

She shook her head sadly. “No. But I won’t always be his mother. One day…”

“That’s what I said,” I told her. “That’s what your mother said. ‘One day’ we told ourselves. One day he’ll see us as we see him. But he never does. He has all the cruelty of youth and he will never grow out of it. He broke my heart and he broke your mother’s heart and if you let him, he will break yours.” I held out my hand to her. “Come home with me and stay there. Be the one who leaves  _him_.”

For a moment she wavered and then, with tears in her eyes, she drifted towards me and took my hand. I knew that she would. Margaret is stronger than I and stronger than her mother; I believe that it is a sign of the changing times.

“No!” Peter Pan snapped. “Go away, old woman! Go away and leave us alone!”

I gathered Margaret against me. “No, Peter,” I said. “I offer you a choice. If you truly want a mother, you can come back with us, but if there is one thing I have learned since I last came to spring clean your house it is this: a true mother must raise her children up and let them go. Your choice is this: return to London and become a man at last, or go away and leave  _us_  alone forever.”

“I won’t!” he insisted. “And if Margaret won’t be my mother I’ll wait until there is another.”

I shook my head sadly. “I am sorry, Peter, but I can not allow that.”

He swept past my head and tugged at my hair. “And what can you do to stop me, old woman!” he crowed.

“I can do nothing, but you see, I am not here alone. Have you forgotten that I can not fly?”

“Then how did you get here, Grandmamma?” Margaret asked. Peter would never even think of asking of course.

“I came by ship,” I explained. “By pirate ship.” I held her close and faced my dear, darling boy as the first cannon fired. “I did what I had to do; now let the consequences of your choice be on your head, Peter Pan.”


End file.
